Bad Language
by Genril
Summary: Determined to impress Fang, Lightning vows to learn Pulsian and surprise her. However...
1. Chapter 1

**Bad Language**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

For the thirteenth time that afternoon, the Gran Pulse duo had unintentionally made Lightning feel left out as they giggled and presumably joked on in Pulsian.

It wasn't just the three of them, which is why she felt it was unintentional, but as the group's day at the beach went on, the more it irked her. It would be a massive lie to say Lightning knew much of the language, and so she couldn't even hazard a guess as to what they were even talking about. Although her gunblade did say ' _Invoke my name – I am Spark'_ in Pulsian alphabet, Lightning didn't know how to pronounce it, and only found out what it meant when Fang happened to spot it one day. The intrigue in her voice had been unmistakable, and she had paused mid-spar to inspect Lightning's weapon further.

Idly drawing a lightning bolt shaped pattern in the sand, she watched through her sunglasses as Fang and Vanille finally ceased talking when Vanille skipped off towards the water. Serah and Snow were already there, playing with a bat and ball with the water up to their shins, making any sort of running difficult while playing.

A part of her expected Fang to begin talking to her instead, and another part of her experienced the worst sinking feeling in her chest when she didn't. Instead Fang turned her attention to sunbathing, lying on her front and sighing in content.

Lightning quickly blamed the fact she was sitting in the shade looking immersed in her book. Fang was only a few metres away and she couldn't even bring herself to get the woman's attention. Meanwhile, Fang had all of hers whilst in that black two-piece.

Frustrated and without meaning to, Light slammed the book shut, causing Fang to finally look up at her. 'Favourite character just die?' she queried, dropping her sunglasses down her nose.

Lightning looked from the book and back. She was only fifty or so pages in and not yet invested in the characters to be upset. 'No, I'm just bored with it.'

'Do you want to join everyone in the water?'

She hadn't planned on going on the water, but as soon as Fang suggested it she began liking the idea. 'Sure, why not?' Lightning threw her book into her beach bag and grabbed sun lotion instead, but as she started applying it to her arms she said, 'we can't leave all our stuff on its own.'

'I don't think anyone is gonna steal ex-l'Cie possessions. They'll get my lance up their ass.'

Lightning shook her head. 'Yes you'd think crime rates would drop on Gran Pulse, but it still happens. We can't leave everything.'

Fang quickly perked up with an idea. 'I could drop the bags off behind the bar Lebreau's? I'll make sure the others know.'

And with the elegance of a prowling feral cat Fang headed to the edge of the shore, and Lightning stared on, still rubbing her arm despite the lotion already being absorbed.

When Fang returned, the others had come with her, jogging over the hot sand to their towels. Snow's hair had bleached tremendously in the sunlight, and the bridge of Serah's nose was tinted red, and when Lightning gestured to the burn, Serah immediately slapped on more cream.

'You could've warned me I'd caught the sun, Snow!' Serah wrinkled her nose when the cream hit the burn. 'I'm going to look stupid now.'

Vanille dropped into the shade besides Lightning, laughing. 'You look stupid anyway, so there's really no difference.'

Understandably, Serah wasn't pleased. 'Watch your back, Vanille. If you fall asleep, you're getting a dick drawn on you with lotion.'

Vanille narrowed her eyes. 'You _wouldn't_.'

'Just don't fall asleep, Red.'

Snow laughed, placing himself between the pretend conflict. 'And suddenly I'm afraid to sunbathe now. Hey Light, Fang told her she was gonna give our stuff to Lebreau, but we were going to head over there for a drink anyway, so we can take it over.'

'Perfect.' Fang removed her sunglasses and threw them onto her towel; she winced with the brightness of the sun, using her hand to shield her eyes. 'Me and Light will have a quick dip then probably join you, yeah?'

Lightning made a noise of affirmation in her throat. 'Yeah.'

The water was lukewarm and therefore faultless. Lightning waded up to her neck, her toes just touching the sand if she pointed them enough. Behind her, Fang was making a tremendous effort to reach her, jumping as best she could when the water hit her waist, and wasting no time in getting her hair wet as she dived, swimming the rest of the gap.

Knowing what was next, Lightning pre-emptively shut her eyes in time for Fang to emerge and spray salt water everywhere. Then she remembered she was still wearing sunglasses.

'Someone's eager,' Fang grinned.

'Says the one who's just raced all the way here. I just wanted to cool off.'

Fang had to squint in the sun to even see Lightning properly, her dark lashes almost completely obscuring the whites of her eyes. 'You're still happy being the loner type, aren't you?'

Lightning frowned, her eyebrows disappearing behind her lenses at the sudden character assessment. 'You got all that from me swimming ahead?'

'And reading in the shade by yourself.'

'People don't often read out loud in groups, Fang.' At that, Fang splashed water at her; leaving Lightning's vision with nothing but droplets. 'Guess that means I have a point.'

Fang spared her a glance, circling around Lightning so that the sun wasn't directly in her eyes. 'Okay there you might have a point, but I'm not wrong.'

Wondering what Fang was even getting at, Lightning tried not to sound hurt about the fact. 'It's a hard habit to break when it's all you've known for a good portion of your life.'

'Well, we're gonna break that habit. We're gonna have you laughing and joking and joining in on all the conversations from now on.'

If Fang felt this way then why make her feel so uninvolved earlier? This was the perfect chance to ask about the sudden Pulsian-speak that had accompanied the entire day out at the beach. 'So what were you and Vanille talking about all today?'

The Oerban's smirk minutely faltered. 'What do you mean? When?'

'You two have been doing it all day,' Lightning pointed out. 'Speaking in Pulsian. You want me to get involved with conversations, but you throw in a language barrier.'

Sinking lower into the water as though ashamed, Fang looked away. 'Ah, sorry. It's usually personal, secret stuff when we talk. Or inside jokes. Sometimes it doesn't translate well in your language, so we say it in ours.'

A part of Lightning wondered when and how Fang and Vanille had come to speak her native tongue, especially with the war between Cocoon and Gran Pulse. She uncharacteristically romanticised the notion that somewhere down the line, maybe a few children had been born to parents from both Cocoon and Pulse, learning both languages along the way. An alternative sprung to mind, of times that had been a lot more peaceful once, allowing people to learn from each other.

'Sounds like speaking two languages could be useful.'

She watched as Fang floated on her back, eyes shut. A deep sigh escaped the Oerban's lips like she wanted the sea to hurry up and carry her out. 'Not when you're only one of two living people who know it.'

Sadness had crept into Fang's tone, and Lightning was desperate to get rid of it, or otherwise spoil a good day with a bad moment. Taking Fang's lowered guard as an opportunity, Lightning let her palm slice across the water to splash the other woman, who certainly wasn't expecting it.

Fang coughed and spluttered, arms flailing. She could've drowned had they been any deeper, but Lightning took the few precious moments she had to quickly paddle back to shore before Fang got her own back. The urge to laugh was impossible to keep to herself, though the promise of drinking saltwater was enough for Lightning to see it through until she was in a better depth of water.

'Not so fast, Farron.'

The splashing behind her increased and Fang closed some distance; thankfully Lightning was too far ahead, and she ran the rest of the way back to their towels.

Lightning was already reapplying sun lotion when Fang finally caught up, panting heavily. 'Can't believe you let me choke on seawater.'

'You'd have drowned me in revenge otherwise,' Lightning said, allowing a small chuckle to escape her lips.

After drying off and collecting their towels, the duo dragged their feet through the rest of the beach towards Lebreau's bar and café in a comfortable silence. Lightning had a sneaking suspicion that Fang was mulling over ideas on ways to get back at her, so she slowed her steps to be slightly behind, in case that moment was then and there.

There was no denying that Lightning had enjoyed having Fang's sole attention, even for a short while. An idea sparked in her mind about how she could steal more of Fang's time.

Only two people could speak Pulsian, you say?

That would have to change.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bad Language**

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

As she would find out over the next few days, books on the Pulsian language were just as scarce as its native speakers. A lot had been lost during the crystallisation, and though scholars were working hard to replace the vast tomes of knowledge they had lost, they had made the bias choice of starting with Cocoon. And if Fang and Vanille wanted their language to live on, it looked as though they would have to be the ones to start their own catalogue of Pulse… _Gran Pulse._

With no secondary sources to learn from Lightning really only had one option. She didn't like the sound of this option, and she didn't want to resort to this option, but it was necessary in her plans.

Lightning would definitely need an alibi before approaching Vanille and requesting lessons. The redhead might by in the mood for questioning her motives, and so she'd need a true-sounding answer for each of them.

Thankfully there was only five minutes left until Lightning was allowed to leave for lunch, so there was no harm in stopping her paperwork early. It was just as well, as she suddenly realised she'd been tapping her pen to an imaginary beat, and dotted a blank form with ink.

She took her personal phone from the desk drawer, scrolling through the short list of numbers until her thumb was hovering over Vanille's name. Etro, she wasn't even sure if she'd texted Vanille before never mind rang her.

Her thumb twitched nervously, and she accidentally hit the "dial" button without any sort of mental preparation.

"Shit!"

Instead of quickly ending the call she bravely let it ring, biting the thumbnail on her other hand to keep her busy. Her worrying was excessive, and even she knew that. It's not like she was ringing Vanille to ask her out or anything.

' _Hello?'_ Double shit, it was Fang! Lightning was a heartbeat away from hanging up.

'Oh hey Fang, is Vanille around?' This was her phone after all.

In the background she heard a familiar chirpy voice, followed by quick footsteps to the phone.

' _What's up anyway? Why are you calling Vanille?'_

' _Fang give me the damn phone!'_ Vanille hissed. Her voice then transformed from demon spawn to angelic sweetness when she addressed Light. _'Hiii. What can I – Fang_ go away _– do for you?'_

Knowing Fang was trying to listen in wasn't making things easier. 'I was wondering if you could teach me how to speak Pulsian – without Fang knowing.' That sounded suspicious. 'It's…it's for work. I um, they're happy to pay.'

She wasn't sure if she'd respect Vanille more or less if she believed her reason.

' _Sure, sounds interesting_.' There was a beginning of a scrabble at the other end of the phone, a couple of thuds, something fell over. _'I mean I definitely have time to –_ _SPARE.'_

Lightning winced, holding the phone away from her ringing ear. 'Er? Vanille?'

' _Sorry. Fang keeps trying to grab the phone and annoy me, so I just had to kick her in her stupid face.'_

The tenseness that had formed in her shoulders for the entire call subsided, thanks to both Vanille's acceptance and her efforts to keep Fang away.

'Great. When can you start?'

' _How does tonight sound?'_

'Tonight's fine, come round for seven.' At least at home there was less chances of making an utter fool of herself.

' _Cool, see you later, Lightning. Ciao!'_

Her phone beeped, signalling the end of call. Lightning leaned back in her chair, which squeaked at the shift in weight. At least now it was time for lunch, she could grab a bite to eat and try to forget about the nerves that bubbled in her stomach out of nowhere.

* * *

It was 7:11p.m when Lightning finally heard a knock at the door. The hour prior to Vanille showing was one of the longest waits she ever had to endure, so when the redhead was showing late, Lightning busied herself with minor tasks. Although cleaning was the easiest thing to take her mind off things, she'd done it all earlier. Now she was left wiyh altering her cushions into various patterns, equally winding her nerves into a tight coil in her chest.

Lightning had barely opened the door an inch when Vanille started apologising. Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was out of breath. 'I'm sorry I took so long. I could not get out of the house without Fang wanting to know where I was going. I think she's a little hurt that you needed me for this "top secret" mission and not her.'

News of that pleased Lightning more than she dared to let on. 'She's just used to being my go to person.'

Vanille smiled, hoisting a book that was slipping from her grip back under her arm, which was the first time Lightning noticed the learning materials she had brought.

'Since I'm not a teacher per se, I've brought early learning books for teaching children Cocoonian, just so I've got a way of matching how to teach you Pulsian. So how about we start with the basics?'

Vanille splayed all of her books out on the coffee table and made herself comfortable on the sofa. One of the books was a blank exercise jotter for Lightning, who even jokingly wrote her name on the front cover like she was back at school.

'We might as well start with the alphabet,' Vanille began, and on a blank page she started to write all 26 letters. Remembering the numbers wasn't such a chore as they had a similarity in shape. One thing she did note was that where Cocoonian numbers were neat and fairly rounded, Pulsian numbers looked wild, and something that you would carve into wood. The same went for the letters, it was like orderly versus unruly.

As impressed as she was with the amount of prep Vanille had gone into in such a short amount of time, a wave of doubt still managed to wash over Lightning as she watched Vanille scrawl. This was a lot to get into just to gain Fang's attention after all. It was only the thought of seeing Fang's pleasantly surprised face that kept her from flaking out and admitting it all to Vanille.

Still writing, Vanille hit her with a question. 'So is this to do with further exploration or something?'

Explore. Oh, she wanted to explore all right. She'd never felt so passionate about something, or _someone_ , in a long time. And of all the people to feel so strongly about, Fang was certainly worthy. She couldn't fathom developing an addiction to someone like… Snow.

She'd let an awkward silence creep over them. 'Yes,' she quickly let slip. 'There have been plans to go further afield. Gran Pulse is a big place, and even I know what I saw atop of Bahamut was just the tip of the iceberg. There might even be more locals.'

Instead of the chipper response, Vanille twisted her face, looking at Light with a questioning expression. 'And they want you to learn Pulsian in case you come across other people, or books and artefacts perhaps?' She leaned in, nudging Lightning and knocking the exercise book off her lap as a result of her overly expressive gesture. 'I mean, I'm not a busy gal, Lightning, neither is Fang really. If _we_ did the translations it would save a lot of time and money.'

Offering her best poker face, Lightning wasn't sure if she could pull the rest of the lie off. She was so out of practice now what with Serah gone from their shared home.

'If it was up to me, then you would be.' That would have to do. The answer floated between them until Vanille threw the newly written alphabet on Lightning's lap.

'Right, so…'

It had been a solid two hours of learning, before Lightning even looked at the clock. Her neck was stiff, and both she and Vanille had yawned several times in the last ten minutes. If anything signalled home time it was yawning.

'Let's see how much you remember,' Vanille challenged turning to face Lightning. She was probably just as eager to see how well she taught as much as to see how much Lightning remembered. 'So hysa ec Vanille. Fryd ec ouin hysa?'

It was one thing to see a new language written, but to hear it sent the cogs in Lightning's mind turning in reverse. She knew Vanille was asking for her name, but she couldn't for the life of her remember the reply, especially when she was so damn mentally exhausted… oh!

'Uh. 'So hy.. hysa ec Lightning.'

Vanille clapped enthusiastically. 'Good! That's good. Your pronunciation wasn't too bad either.'

Lightning let out a pleased huff at the praise, keeping the phrase in her mind on a loop. 'Thanks. Say, it's getting late, can I give you a lift home?'

Perking up slightly at the offer, there was still sleepiness in Vanille's eyes. Lightning didn't blame her; teaching anything was draining, and even she felt like an early night.

The car ride was met with a silence both females could appreciate as a way to wind down the day.

'I'll be sure to tell the necessary people and make sure you get paid for your tuition,' Lightning remembered to say just before the redhead skipped out.

Like she would any of her friends, Lightning watched Vanille safely enter her house, which she could barely see from all of the trees and shrubs safeguarding the porch.

Vanille and Fang had a fence but no gate, which made the garden welcoming but intimidating at the same time, as branches and uncut hedges poked out from between the slats in the wood.

A quick wave from the threshold and Lightning was happy to drive back.

* * *

Vanille walked into complete darkness, which was strange, she was sure there was a light on when they pulled up.

'Fang?' This had to be one of her games. 'Why have you plunged the house into entire darkness, you mad woman?' Feeling her way across the wall, Vanille hit the hallway's light switch, just as a pair of hands grabbed her from behind. 'Eep!'

'Sorry, _not sorry_.'

Fang sauntered into the living room as Vanille tried to put her heart back into her ribcage. 'You're a right cow for that. I knew what you were up to, and yet you scared the hell outta me anyway.'

'So what did she want with you then?'

Fang could play it cool all she wanted, the fact she was already prying for answers…

'Don't get jealous now.'

Fang's jaw set. 'I'm not jealous, what a stupid thing to say.'

'Then you won't mind if I don't tell you then.'

Her sister was probably seconds away from growling, but the more Vanille wound her up the better. She dashed upstairs before Fang could keep prying, giggling at the way she was acting. Whether she wanted to admit it or not (and so far even Vanille had a hard time getting the spoken truth from her) there was definitely a bit of fancying going on.

She called it sisterly intuition, especially since Fang hadn't given her a straight yes or no like she would with other things.

Taking a seat at her age beaten desk, Vanille rested against the chair still in thought. She pulled out her diary from the top drawer. It acted more like an organiser than a book for personal thoughts, and more often than not she wrote one liners that summed up the day.

 _Became a mediator of love as of today._

That was all she needed to write. If she ever looked back at what she wrote, she was confident she'd remember what that meant.

There was no way she believed Lightning's daft story either. Why would the Guardian Corps want Lightning to learn Pulsian? Surely whoever was in charge would want more than just Light to speak it?

Vanille smirked. 'Because it's all a big fat lie.'

Tomorrow she would put the final nail in the coffin as far as proof went. All she'd need to do is call the GC and confirm her suspicions.

* * *

Keeping her eyes shut still, Fang's keen hearing alerted her to a voice in the room directly below her. Vanille talking didn't usually cause suspicion, but after the weird meeting she had with Lightning yesterday, Fang was curious.

'And you're positive?' she heard, Vanille's words muffled but not enough to obscure anything she said on her end. She was definitely on the phone. 'One hundred percent certain?'

Who was she talking to? It sounded like she was asking for pregnancy results… no, dear Etro please let it be something else. A sinking feeling started from her throat to her stomach. What if this was related to Lightning?

Fang never moved so fast. Throwing back the covers, she stalked the landing on her tiptoes, lying across the floor until she could see down the stairs.

Her sister squealed, her hand balled in a victory fist. 'Thank you. That's all I needed to know – Oh!' Vanille caught sight of Fang almost too quickly, like she was expecting the eavesdrop, and with a spring in her step came a bit closer to where Fang was snooping.

'Who was that on the phone?'

'Oh, just a game changer.'

'I don't understand.'

'It's for me to know and for you to – hopefully – find out.'

Did Fang trust those words? She'd sooner trust Barthandelus.

* * *

 **Gonna keep things short, sweet, but frequent with this story.**

 **FYI, any 'Pulsian' written will actually be Al Bhed, so you can translate it if you wish.**


End file.
